There are ways to remediate thc from a solution but I dont personally know how and dont know of anyone kind enough to share that information with me free of charge. To test your crude just use regular litmus paper.
I think for next time just try to mitigate isomerization by neutralizing any acid present in your crude. That’s what it sounds like is happening.
Shoot okay, do you think I should try to run the distillate again? or is there a way to reduce the thc so I can actually use the distillate so I have under .3% thc in my end-use products? It’s really weird because I have really good color distillate, but it just wont crystallize because of the low cbd content.
You can pay someone for remediation, I think the average rate is a little north of 2000 per kilo distillate remediated. Distillation is not a viable route to remove thc from cbd because the boiling points are so similar. It does look very good tho.
How would they remediate the product? and $2000 a kilo is ridiculous, I can’t pay that. I might call up the guy I bought the crude from and ask him if he could remediate or at least reimburse some of the crude. I paid for him to consult me through the process and he should have known to tell me to test the ph levels. Is isomerization common? Sorry for all of the questions trying to learn as much as possible.
it is common with all cannabinoids. Usually thc turns to d8 or d10, cbd can turn to thc. lots of chemistry happens in that boiling flask if the conditions are correct.
Any person getting paid for consultation and not giving instructions and consequences of ph fluctuations in distillation sop s
Should be called out
It s a sign of improper behavior or lack of knowledge
Pffff this trade is not difficult but shame on those. Charging money and teaching it wrong
With which method is your crude extracted ?
So which solvent is used
Since your sop is so basic (which is fine )
I suspect the culprit in the method of extraction either co2 or direct dry ice in ethanol
I agree, the guy you hired should have already informed you of pretty much everything I’ve explained in this thread.
It is extracted by ethanol. and what could the extraction facility done wrong? I talked with the owner of the ethanol extraction lab and he says that he only uses 200 proof ethanol to clean his equipment. What could cause a change in the ph?
I spoke with the consultant and he is trying to make it right. Can anyone recommend a better consultant to further help me figure out how to increase the cbd? I was thinking maybe adding some isolate in with the shortpath to increase the cbd levels? or should I not run the distillate again in the short path because it will further isomerize.
Also is there anyway I can reduce the THC in the distillate, to make end-use products compliant with staying under .3 % THC?
There are several threads on this but you’ll find that many if not most are using chromatography to accomplish this. Others have proprietary methods to remove the THC.
Regarding your PH levels, you should measure them as they are currently to validate that you indeed have a PH problem before looking for solutions to that problem. That being said, recycled ethanol can have the PH get out of whack over time. It’s good to test that periodically too.
The change in ph can come from dry ice being directly in contact with ethanol to chill the solution. Carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid. I know the guy said he uses 200 proof ethanol but water is absorbed from the surrounding air by ethanol especially at dry ice temps. This is because alcohol is a hygroscopic solvent.
What you’re talking about doing is essentially thc remediation and there is no publicly known way to reduce thc content other than dilution, which has obvious drawbacks. Besides, in that instance your only diluting the cannabinoids. Not changing the ratios of those cannabinoids present which is what you want to do. Theres a reason people are able to charge 2k+/ kg processed. If the community as a whole knew how it was done then this service wouldnt cost so much.
Since your isomerization issues are relative small looking at the % of cannabinoids changed after spd
An other possibility can be that the crude is treated with activated carbon or some other powder which has an acidic nature
And has not been filtered out thoroughly before heat treatment of decarboxilation or spd it self
Yea, so Im at the lab today, I just took an aquarium ph test and put some crude in distilled water to test the ph. It came back neutral for all 4 tests. I also have the lab testing the ph of the crude, but we wont get the results back until Firday. I talked to one of my chemistry professors at the university and he said it is most likely high temps that burned off the CBD. We never let the mantle temp go above 210. We mostly keep it around 190-200. He suggested that we use boiling chips. I found some on amazon. Has anyone else tried using these? I’m thinking we have gotten the vacuum down to 150-250 microns and we only need to get the mantle temps around 180-190 to get CBD out of the distillate. Do you think we should run the distillate in the short path one more time and see what the results are? just run at low temps? I’m not so sure if isomerization is the issue. If we run it again and isomerization is not the issue will we get higher amount of CBD in our distillate?
Oil and water do not mix. You were only checking the pH of the water. Use ethanol.
@Sean99 time for some serious reading or a consultation with a good consultant
If you give your location one might call in
First of all take ph with 96% ethanol
There needs to be water present
Second when distilling under vacuum agitation is necessary
Third of all boiling chips do not work
Under vacuum ( great for atmosphere distillation )
Your cbd is gone no way to get it back
But if the isomerize cannabinoids have a boiling point higher or lower by several degrees you might be able to concentrate the cbd/thc fraction giving you less volume but a higher % of cbd / thc
Guess that’s it for now
If you have enough isolate to do this, that’s one way to get it done. As long as you neutralize the distillate before distilling again you will have minimal isomerization.
Try to test ph before and after decarb and always decarb before distilling. Decarboxylation produces co2 and if there is any water present in your crude then I’m sure some of that co2 will turn into carbonic acid and that would increase the potential for isomerization during decarb or distillation.
Also check out flash chromatography for thc remediation, I dont know how expensive the columns are. Interchim Flash Chromatography for THC Remediation
Interchim quoted me around $6k for their columns. They last around a month if you run daily. The larger expense is solvent though. You need a system that uses solvent that is easy to recover IMHO. If you can recycle your solvent you’ll save a lot of money.
